Building houses of artificial stone



March 18, 1941. A. F. BOMGREN 2,235,603

BUILDING HOUSES OF ARTIFICIAL STONE Filed Aug. 31, 1937' 4 3 Sheets-Sheet 1' Y l I l 1 Pen,

March 18, 1941; A BQ'M'GREN 2,235,603

BUILDING HOUSES OF ARTIFICIAL STONE Filed Aug. 31, 1937 s Sheets-8119612 2 F/BROL/s IMSUL A TION 730m we) March 18, 1941. A. F; BOMGREN 5 2,235,603

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Patented Mar. 18, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application August 31, 1937, Serial No. 161,862 In Sweden June 15, 1935 3 Claims.

The present invention relates to a method of erecting buildings of artificial stone-and bindin such stones. y

In the building art attempts have been made 5 for years to apply to the greatest extent possible industrial methods in the production of buildings in order thereby to reduce the cost of construction, particularly as regards smaller dwellin houses. As a step in said endeavours various systems have been worked out for buildin houses of parts industrially made ready for erecting. It

has been possible to build only wooden houses economically in this manner. The property of wood of taking up water during moist weather at the same time changing its shape in an often very irregular manner involves certain inconveniences, since the individual parts must meet exceedingly strict requirements with regard to dimensions and permanency of shape. 7

Such inconveniences are avoided according to the present invention which relates to a method of producing houses from ready made pants consisting of a. material having a greater permanency of shape than wood, namely a stone-like material.

.The present invention has for its primary object to utilize porous concrete for producing houses from parts industrially made ready for erection, although other castable stone-like materials having similar properties can be utilized. In accordonce with the invention wall blocks are made'industrially from porous concrete, the individual wall blocks being made of a height equal to that of a. full story.

Ready made buildin parts consisting of porous concrete cannot be joined together in the "same manner as parts of wood. The most simple methodwouldseemtobetosetthepartsm mortar as they are placed in position. lltis, however, only with difllculty that parts of the size in questionthe individual parts often having a weight of some 400 kilograms-can be placed correctly in position in this manner. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the wall blocks are initially erected on the foundation wall or on each other respectively without joining the blocks together while inserting spacers between theblocks so that open joints of the desired thickness are formed, between the blocks. Thus erection is facilitated, and it becomes possible to adjust the blocks with respect to each other after all blocks belonging to the same story have been erected. After the blocks have been adjusted they are rigidly secured in the adjusted positions to prevent displacements and are there- 5 alter rigidly united with the foundation and with each other respectively by grouting the joints with a binding composition. for instance cement mor- The grouting of the joints can be cariied out by first closing the openings both of. the horizontal and of the vertical joints flush with the 5 surfaces of the walls so that a system of mutually cpnnnunicating vertical and horizontal closed. channels are formed, whereupon cement mortar or other liquid joint filling material is poured into the joints so that the joints are completely 10 filled with the joint composition which after solidification securely holds the difierent wall blocks together.

It has been found possible to obtain according to the present invention perfectly plane blocks 15 which can be adjusted so accurately with respect to each other; that interior and exterior plastering can be dispensed with. On the inside the wall can be directly papered or painted, and on the outside it can be coated or sprayed with a 20 paint capable of repelling water.

By industrially producing th wall blocks of porous concrete the joint surfaces of the blocks can be made so smooth and plane as to render possible a considerable reduction of the thickness 2 of v the joints, this being of considerable importance in view of the tact thatoement binding composition, has a. very much higher heat conductivity than the porous concrete. Even when the wall blocks have a small thickness the heat 30 transmitting capacity of the joints can therefore be made sufficiently low by correspondingly reducing the thickness of the joints. As a result of the thin joints the amount of moisture introduced into the building through the joint mortar 35 is also reduced to a minimum, so that the building can be used immediately after completion without having to be first subjected to a timewasting drying out operation.

The floors can also be made from industrially 40 cast floor slabs consisting of porous concrete or other antificial stone. Said floor construction involves the advantage that the stone floor can be immediately used without having to be subjected to a previous time-wasting drying-out operation. 45

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily carried out the same will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front view of the lower corner 50 portion of a house built according to the invention, the house being shown with open joints to show the spacers more clearly.

Figure 2 is a plan View on the line 2-2 in Figure -1 ll Figures 3 to 5 show on a larger scale and in front view, side view and plan view respectively a portion of an outer wall provided with a door p Figure 6 is a part section illustrating the manner of erecting the floor beams;

Figure 7 is a section through the flooring;

Figure 8 is a plan view of a corner formed of two outer walls;

Figure 9 is a plan view of the meeting point between an outer wall and an inner wall;

Figure 10 shows a method of closing the joint openings before pouring the cement mortar into the joints;

Figure 11 is a plan view of one corner of a building under erection having the wall blocks of the first story in position and the joint openings sealed by means of a sealing composition before pouring the binding mass into the joints; I

and

Figure 12 is a vertical section on the line lZ-l 2 in Figure 11.

Referring to the drawings, 9 designates the foundation wall on which a number of wall blocks l and I having the height of a full story are erected, spacers I2 being inserted between the foundation wall and the wall blocks standing thereupon and between the wall blocks mutually so that'open throughgoing joints having a small thickness, preferably amounting to 5 to 8 millimeters or less, are formed. The wall blocks I0 and I5 are cast in a factory from porous concrete or other mouldable stone-like material with similar low specific weight and good heat insulating capacity and are transported in ready condition to the place of erection, the blocks being slightly reinforced, if necessary, .to permit of handling during transport. The spacers I2 are preferably made from fiber or similar material and can be secured to the respective wall blocks in connection with the casting operation, or they can be nailed to the blocks or be secured thereto in other manner.

The wall blocks I 0 are provided at the top of their vertical edges facing each other with rectangular recesses I I which are adapted to receive a ready cast cross piece [3 formed as a beam,

said cross piece forming the upper limit of a window or door opening. Below the window openings there are erected, in addition, between the two special wall blocks l0 one or more ready made wall pieces I 4. The wall blocks l5, which have no recesses, are used for constructing such wall portions as have no window or door openings. When the wall has a thickness of about 18 centimeters the wall blocks I5 are preferably made with a width of about 60 centimeters or less.

Both the wall blocks I0 and I5 having the height of a full story and the wall pieces l3 provided above the window and door openings are provided on the inside of their upper edge with a rectangular recess l6 extending. across the entire width of the block or wall piece respectively. In the erected wall the'individual recesses form a common recess extending along the entire length of the wall. On the bottom of said recess there is placed a pressure distributing supporting member for the floor beams consisting of a fiat,

plumbing of the wall blocks are screwed into the latter. After the fiat iron I! has thus been screwed onto the wall blocks it will serve to hold the upper edges of the blocks in the proper positions.

For intermediate walls serving as a support for floor beams extending at both sides from the wall. the pressure distributing'flat iron or the like is made to extend across the entire width of the wall. Therefore, the wall blocks for such .walls are not provided at the top with a rectangular recess but are instead made correspondingly lower. A flat iron 22 for an intermediate wall is shown in Figures 2 and 9.

The flat irons I1 and 22 for the outer walls and for the intermediate walls respectively are securely united at their meeting points, as will be clear from Figures 2 and 9, so that the fiat irons will form a kind of cap-piece which previous to the filling of the open wall block joints will give to the building the required stiffness. The floor beams 23 are placed on the flat irons and are secured thereto by means of bolts 29 which are screwed into the flat irons.

At the bottom adjacent wall sections can, if desired, be united in their lined-up position by means of cramp-irons 26, see Figure 10, which are driven into the wall blocks across the joint openings.

After the floor beams have been placed in position and have been screwed onto the cap-piece the joints are filled with a uniting joint filling composition. Preferably the joint openings are initially sealed, for example by means of narrow strips which are pressed into the joints, whereafter the joint mortar is poured from above into the closed system of channels formed by the sealing of the joints.

A preferred method of externally sealing or closing the joint openings before introducing the jointmortar into the joints is shown in Figures 11 and 12, according to which the joint openings are closed with a solidifying mass 42. The closed channel system formed through the closing of the joint openings is indicated with dotted lines in Figure 12. The channel system is preferably divided into a number of separate branches through fillings 43 applied across the joints at convenient points, preferably simultaneously with the erecting of the wall blocks. Both the mass 42 for closing the joint openings and the mass making up the filling 43 can consist of a quick-binding cement. The closing of the joint openings can be effected by means of a spatula, trowel, or similar tool so that an entirely smooth wall surface is obtained, particularly on the inside of the walls.

When the filling mass closing the joint openings has set and gained suflicient mechanical strength, which when using a quickbinding cement will have taken place after the lapse of less than 24 hours, cement mortar or other suitable liquid binding composition is poured into the joints at the tops thereof, the liquid then flowing down through the vertical joints and into the horizontal joints onto the nearest filling 43 whereafter gradually the entire system of channels communicating with the joint entrance is filled with the binding liquid. On account of the hydrostatic pressure from the casting composition in the vertical channel branch the casting com'- position in the horizontal channel portions will be subjected to a comparatively high pressure, usually a pressure of about 3 meters of water column, and the casting mass will therefore under the influence of said pressure fill out even a very thin joint. To permit escape of air which may have become imprisoned in the joint, narrow openings can be provided at suitable points, said openings being closed'as soon as the casting mass starts to flow out therethrough.

After completed grouting or filling of the joints the rectangular recesses l6 and the spaces between the floor beams right above the intermediate walls respectively are filled by means of properly dimensioned fillers or by a cast-in mass of porous concrete for the purpose of securing a plane and smooth upper wall surface before starting erection of the wall blocks of the next story.

Wall blocks intended for outer walls can, if desired, be provided in the factory with an external coating 25 consisting of plaster or other material as shown in Figures 4 and 5. r

In Figures 6 and '7 is shown a floor construction for the building. The floor is composed of blocks or slabs 30 which are ready made in the factory from reinforced porous concrete or the like, said blocks having a length equal to the distance between two or more floor beams 23 and a width determined with regard to the weight of the blocks and other conditions. The floor blocks are placed side by side with spacers arranged between the individual blocks, said spacers preferably consisting of ledges 3! cast in one piece with the floor blocks at the lower edge of the side surface thereof. Between the floor beams 23, which are I-beams, and the floor blocks is placed a pad 32 of insulating material, for example strips of a fibrous plate. After the floor blocks have been placed in position there is forced into the open joints between the blocks a packing material 33 consisting of a packing cord or the like, for the purpose of sealing the bottom of the joints, if necessary. Thereupon a binding composition, for example cement mortar, is grouted into the joints. I

On the lower flanges of the I-beam's 23 there can be placed a counter floor or ceiling consisting of slabs 34 of a fire-proof material, for example slabs of porous concrete or other artificial stone. The slabs, which preferably are reinforced to resist bending, are supported by the floor beams by means of flat irons 35, which are secured to the slabs by means of bolts 36 and nuts 31, the flat irons resting on the lower flanges of the beams 23. The upper surface of the slabs is substantially in level with the upper surface of the lower flanges whereas the lower surface of the slabs is at a lower elevation than the bottom surface of the beams, thereby rendering it possible to design the slabs with a laterally projecting portion 38 which extends under the corresponding I-- beam 23 covering the latter and thus providing a satisfactory protection against fire. The slabs are placed in position from above before the floor blocks 30 are erected. To obtain improved sound insulation a filling can be placed on the counter-floor between the I-beams.

The invention is, of course, not limited to the described embodiment but can be modified in various ways within the scope .of the appended claims. For instance, it is not necessary to introduce thebinding composition into the joints 70 only after erection and adjustment, of the wall sections. The binding composition can be in troduced into the joints in connection with the erection of the sections provided only that the binding composition has such properties as not to solidify until the sections have become adjusted and that it is capable of completely filling out the joints after displacement of a section in connection with the adjusting operation.

I claim:

1-. A method of building houses from storyheight wall slabs which have been pre-cast to accurate dimensions from porous concrete or similar mouldable stone-like material which comprises, erecting the slabs on the foundation wall or on the walls of a lower story of the building, arranging spacers along the edges of the slabs so that each slab becomes spaced apart from the support and from the adjacent slabs to provide open through-going joint spaces, adjusting the positions of the individual slabs so that a plane wall surface is formed while maintaining free play between opposing edges of both horizontal and vertical joints, steadying the slabs in the adjusted position, and finally uniting the slabs with the support and with each other to form a self-supporting monolithic structure by filling the joints with a binding mass.

2. A method of building houses from story height wall slabs which have been pre-cast with flat edge surfaces from porous concrete or similar stone-like material which comprises, erecting the slabs on a supporting wall, arranging spacers at intervals along the edges of the slabs so as to provide thin through-going joint spaces of even thickness between adjacent slabs and between the slabs and the support, adjusting the positions of the erected slabs and steadying them in their adjusted positions, sealing both the horizontal and the vertical joints on the outside and inside so as to provide a series of mutually communieating vertical and horizontal closed channels, and finally pouring a fluid binding composition into the upper open ends of the vertical channels', whereby the binding composition holds the wall slabs securely together after setting.

3. A method of building houses from storyheight wall slabs which have been precast with flat edge surfaces from porous concrete or similar mouldable stone-like material which comprises, erecting the slabs on a supporting wall of the building, arranging spacers at intervals along the edges of the slabs so as to provide thin throughgoing joint spaces of even thickness between adjacent slabs and between the slabs and the supporting wall, arranging a cap-sill in position on the upper edges of the erected slabs and securing the floor-beams in position on said cap-sill, adjusting the positions of the individual slabs so that the inner faces thereof will be in alignment and securing the top portion of each slab in its adjusted position to the cap-sill, sealing both the horizontal and the vertical joint-spaces 

